The path to VP RevOps (with Sowmya Srinivasan, VP of RevOps at HubSpot)

What does the path to VP look like? What's the mindset, how do you impact the business - and what does strategy even look like?

We talked with Sowmya about her experience becoming a VP of Revenue Operations.

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (02:55) - Sowmya's RevOps journey
• (06:52) - What does it mean to have strategy in the title?
• (09:09) - Unnoticed opportunities
• (15:18) - The advantage of experience
• (17:32) - Commercial or business background?
• (21:52) - So how do you become strategic?
• (27:04) - How do you go beyond tools?
• (35:40) - A growth mindset

Creators and Guests

Host

Mikkel Plaehn

Marketing leader & b2b saas nerd

Host

Toni Hohlbein

2x exited CRO | 1x Founder | Podcast Host

Guest

Sowmya Srinivasan

Vice President of Revenue Operations @ HubSpot

What is The Revenue Formula?

This podcast is about scaling tech startups.

Hosted by Toni Hohlbein & Raul Porojan, together they look at the full funnel.

With a combined 20 years of experience in B2B SaaS and 3 exits, they discuss growing pains, challenges and opportunities they’ve faced. Whether you're working in RevOps, sales, operations, finance or marketing - if you care about revenue, you'll care about this podcast.

If there’s one thing they hate, it’s talk. We know, it’s a bit of an oxymoron. But execution and focus is the key - that’s why each episode is designed to give 1-2 very concrete takeaways.

[00:00:00] Toni: Hey everyone, this is Toni Holbein. You are listening to the Revenue Formula.
[00:00:04] In today's episode, we're going to have a chat with Somya. She's a VP of Revenue Operations at HubSpot, and we're going to talk with her about her path to becoming VP. Enjoy.
[00:00:14]
[00:00:14] Mikkel: so by the way, I don't know if you noticed, but we have, the neon sign working again.
[00:00:22] Toni: Yeah, Mikkel, did you, did you fix it or who fixed it? No, Ingi
[00:00:25] Mikkel: Björk fixed it. Yeah. So what happened was, I thought the fuse box had gone out of business again and kind of blown.
[00:00:32] And then, uh, the day after we had recorded a whole episode with a guest where it didn't work out. And then the day after she was like. Yeah, it was really easy. I just pressed two buttons on the remote and reset it and now it's working again. No, you probably
[00:00:42] Toni: just replaced the batteries in the remote, you know, you're such a millennial.
[00:00:47] It's
[00:00:48] Mikkel: impossible. I also hit it a bit, but it didn't work out. No, but it's uh Back at the table with a guest
[00:00:56] Toni: again. We have a wonderful guest here today
[00:00:58] Mikkel: again. And it's, what was it? Third attempt, I think, to get you on. Uh, we had,
[00:01:04] Sowmya: is a charm.
[00:01:06] Mikkel: we had a lot of technical issues. Fortunately, uh, you were gracious enough to, uh, to still give it a go.
[00:01:12] So third time became the charm, I guess. and, uh, welcome Somya. So great to have you on the show.
[00:01:18] Sowmya: Thank you, Mikkel, and thank you, Toni, for having me. So glad you could, uh, make this work.
[00:01:23] Toni: Yes. Very much looking forward to this.
[00:01:25] Mikkel: And today we're going to talk a bit about revenue operations, which is fortunate because you have, a title of VP RevOps at HubSpot today.
[00:01:36] Sowmya: Yes.
[00:01:36] Mikkel: And, you've also worked at Informatica before, also in the revenue operations area, I believe.
[00:01:43] Sowmya: Um, so I was in the customer strategy and operations, uh, at Informatica. So revenue operations, as you know, uh, is new in the marketplace, I would say last couple of years. Um, so at Informatica, I was sitting in the business, uh, reporting into the CCO, uh, but a similar role. And at HubSpot, organization.
[00:02:03] Toni: And, and just maybe to clarify this real quick, um, in, in HubSpot, you specifically also focus on the CS side of the business. Is that how you structure this or just kind of maybe give some background for everyone else
[00:02:13] Sowmya: Yeah, absolutely. So at HubSpot, I'm part of the Revenue Operations Organization. My, my expertise is still post sales. So I do have an operations leader within sales and marketing and also an enterprise planning and analytics leader who's part of the RevOps organization, um, that we work with. Um, whereas at my prior role, I was part of the business siloed, still in many organizations as it exists today.
[00:02:38] Toni: Yeah. Very interesting. And, and I'm guessing also HubSpot, I don't actually know so much about Informatica, but I'm guessing HubSpot is slightly bigger than Informatica. So I guess, I guess that explains some of the additional structure being built around. Uh, yes, Sowmya, wonderful to have you here today and, uh, maybe Mikkel, let's dive, let's dive into this.
[00:02:55] Mikkel: Yeah. So first we really just actually want to hear, uh, what your revenue operations journey looked like. How did you. All of a sudden, fall into this, this category, uh, of, you know, of work.
[00:03:06] Sowmya: I will give a little bit of background about my career trajectory and that will explain, uh, uh, you know, uh, how I ended up at HubSpot with Revenue Operations. So I started off with Informatica in a customer facing role. Uh, I started off as a support engineer, so, you know, really handling customer tickets, working very closely with the product organization.
[00:03:26] And early part of my career, I did a variety of, uh, Uh, you know, roles such as account management, escalation management, support account management, etc. There was a project that we undertook, which was moving our CRM from Siebel, for those who remember
[00:03:43] Mikkel: Oh,
[00:03:44] Sowmya: so Siebel to Salesforce, and I was the North America lead, you know, who helped to lead that initiative.
[00:03:51] I think when I was working in that project, it gave me, um, as we did the capability assessments, understanding what a customer wants, and why is it that we have all these features and processes, it gave me a big view into the Why? And also help me understand, like, how business translates into, you know, a day to day work that a support engineer does.
[00:04:13] Because at the end of the day, when you think about your role, you're talking to a customer, you have to meet an SLA. Uh, you need to resolve something that seems very tactical and myopic, but then when you really understand, okay, here is how it impacts the big picture, I think it comes together. I would say that kind of, uh, piqued my interest, uh, in, uh, operations.
[00:04:35] I really wanted to, uh, understand the why and make it... consumable, uh, for the folks on, um, you know, as part of their day to day. Um, luckily or, uh, you know, unfortunately, Informatica did end up going private, uh, about a year later. Um, and I was part of the acquisition team that worked very closely with the sponsor leadership team, as well as Informatica's leadership team.
[00:05:00] So, I would say that was the start of my operations journey. I started off managing the Support side of the house, and then slowly expanded to customer success, renewals, both maintenance as well as subscription. And, uh, when I left Informatica, I had a large organization managing all of the post sales operations, enablement, analytics, uh, so these were all part of the, uh, you know, um, journey.
[00:05:28] So, um, Why did I move? I definitely had a really good growth but then I think I was missing being part of the organization where I truly could influence and see like you know top of the funnel all the way to Uh, you know, how it, uh, you know, culminates into a retention or an expansion. I was definitely responsible for the post sales, but then there was very little that I could do or very little insight that I had about like, you know, is this a qualified lead?
[00:06:00] The sales closing all of the leads that we are generating on time. So those are all parts of the missing puzzle, uh, for me. And lo and behold, there was this opportunity at HubSpot. Um, and another big, um, thing that I wanted to learn was I was, I came from an enterprise software background and HubSpot was more of SMB.
[00:06:19] So there could be a customer who is paying $100 per month, but wanting to be treated as a million dollar customer. So that definitely was very interesting problem for me to solve. And that kind of brought me to HubSpot. So again, like I've been here a year, um, very much enjoying being part of the Uh, broader organization, understanding all of the, um, I will say, pieces, uh, together and applying it to the post sales to make the customer experience more meaningful, um, and delivering growth.
[00:06:52] Toni: So, I mean, at, at Informatica you literally had the word strategy in your title. Right? Uh, and, now at HubSpot, obviously kind of as a, as a VP there, right there, uh, there's surely some strategic items to it. Could you, could you explain a little bit, maybe, maybe there's a bridge between those two topics, between Informatica and HubSpot where you say like, Hey, those were strategic items I was carrying there, and I'm actually also now involved in and or carrying here, uh, because it's really helpful for everyone here to, uh, to get a better feel for.
[00:07:22] You know, what does that actually mean, strategy, right? And, and, and, and then it seems like you, you can put quite some words to that, actually. So I would love to have you.
[00:07:31] Sowmya: Sure. So, yeah, I mean, I hear you when, when we think operations, we think efficiency. And when we hear strategy, we think, uh, growth. So that is how, at least in my mind, um, you know, I translate those two. And I do remember fighting for having strategy as part of my title because I felt it was really important.
[00:07:53] So as much as we say, uh, revenue operations, I think the very fact that it is revenue operations implies that the role, uh, that the organization plays is strategic. Um, I think, um, We are not responsible for driving revenue as in, uh, you know, we don't sit in part of the business. But we are responsible for all of the tools, the processes, identifying opportunities, planning, um, you know, target setting, comp and incentive design to make sure that we are fueling, um, you know, the growth for the organization and thereby forming revenue operations.
[00:08:34] It is very strategic. It is not just about, you know, identifying some incremental opportunities or making something better. It is also identifying opportunities that probably no one ever knew existed. And I think that is... That is what gives me a sense of satisfaction being part of the organization, and I feel, uh, that is what makes the entire, um, uh, RevOps a more of a strategic thought partner as opposed to an organization that is here to make your life easier and make you a bit more efficient on a day to day basis.
[00:09:09] Toni: And I mean, HubSpot is a public company, so maybe we need to watch out for some of these things. But do you have maybe one or two examples? So because you mentioned the incremental improvement stuff, which I think a lot of people just, you know, brush aside and like, yeah, yeah, cool, cool. But over time, this is like real, real money there, both on the, on the growth and the, uh, on the cost side.
[00:09:30] Right. Um, and then you mentioned you uncovered a couple of opportunities that otherwise maybe would have gone unnoticed. Right. Can you share one or two stories of those things that, um, uh, that would help us, you know, paint the picture of being strategic a bit better? Yeah.
[00:09:44] Sowmya: Yeah, absolutely. I would actually talk about a couple of initiatives from Informatica, uh, more than HubSpot, and I will probably say that a lot of it applies to the work that we're doing here at HubSpot. HubSpot as well. Um, so I was telling you about how Informatica was a public entity and then we were acquired and we went private.
[00:10:05] So Informatica was on a journey of going from a perpetual organization to a subscription and now, most recently, there's a consumption based, uh, you know, organization. So, Every single time there is a new product change that happened or there was a new go to market, uh, that was needed, what we would do is look at what kind of offerings does the customer need.
[00:10:32] Uh, so, um, you know, uh, a maintenance based support SLA could be very different than a subscription customer who... expects, uh, you know, uh, vendors to, uh, be liable for, uh, you know, outage or a penalty cost, right? So every single time there was a product change or, uh, go to market change, we had to constantly tweak.
[00:10:54] So by the time we completed our pivot to subscription, there were 14 different support offerings that we had. Given that most of the company's growth comes from especially established public large sized companies, their growth comes from existing customer base. Having, so the same customer could have invested a million dollars in maintenance, as in like perpetual, On premise products and might have like let's say a 20k footprint on subscription and you might say hey You really did not invest in subscription.
[00:11:30] You are not entitled to, let us say, an SLA. You're not entitled to a CSM. Whereas, on the maintenance or the perpetual side of the house, you are a huge customer, and we are going to give you our topmost tier of service. So the customer experience is completely, uh, you know, fragmented. And then, um, that leads to...
[00:11:51] Probably the customer slowly churning or moving towards an organization that offers them a holistic solution. So, um, long story short, this was one of the projects that, you know, um, um, Part of the operations organization that we identified that we had to solve. We codenamed the project, Project Tetris.
[00:12:14] You know, for those of you who have played Tetris, it is about filling the gaps and growing. So that was the intent behind the project codename. And what we did was look at our go to market when it came to offerings holistically. And identify what are all the needs that a customer has, not just to what is the footprint that they have today.
[00:12:36] What they could grow into and then second thing is, how do we, I mean, think about the salesperson who has to attach services to a sale. Do they attach what the customer had where they had the maximum footprint or are they going to be giving the customer what they are buying for? Again, like the sales process was also completely complicated and not to mention the delivery because The customer is going to say, I have invested 1.
[00:13:01] 2 million in Informatica, give me your highest year. I don't care if I did not pay enough for subscription. So, definitely there was a need. We identified the need in terms of simplification for Informatica from a go to market standpoint. For sales to make sure that it is a compelling pitch and for the customer because we want to make sure the customer irrespective of the product or the or the footprint that they have, they have the same experience across all of their interactions with Informatica.
[00:13:35] So this was a huge Uh, undertaking, uh, the, uh, the number of combinations that we had was 540, believe it or not, between products and services and offerings. Uh, so to simplify it, come up with, uh, you know, we came up with like one paid offering that would apply, uh, to all of the customers. So this was actually, um, you know, one of the, I would say, courier highlights for me in terms of a project that I conceived.
[00:14:00] Uh, my team, uh, you know, um, uh, put together and we had to mobilize an entire organization around this go-to market. So, uh, definitely, um, there is a strategy involved because, uh, you know, uh, uh, it was a, uh, complete company wide initiative. It simplified the customer experience, it made the go to market very simple, and it made our offering very compelling because irrespective of the product footprint, you had something that you wanted that Informatica had as part of their service offering.
[00:14:31] Um, so, I mean, that is one example that I would say where, uh, you know, I feel like revenue operations or operations become strategic.
[00:14:39] Toni: Yeah. I love this. Uh, so internally we call our roadmap project Tetris as well. So that's a, that's a funny one. Um, and then, um, I was actually, so I don't think there's any doubt that, uh, this was a, a strategic, uh, strategic initiative on your part. I think it's also one of the first, uh, real examples that we've been listening to that.
[00:15:01] really mirrors this claim of RevOps to the customer journey end to end, right? Because this, this is really what that is. It's not just a, Oh, we need to add a field in Salesforce. This is, you know, much broader and, and, and deeper integrated to this. And this was actually kind of where my next question was coming from.
[00:15:18] You mentioned that you have been a CS frontline, um, individual contributor and or manager, uh, previously to that. Do you think that this. Um, puts you into a much stronger position to leverage that into this operation slash strategy and, or maybe new word revenue operations position to kind of really be super close to the customer, totally get it.
[00:15:40] And then, you know, translate that back to things internally.
[00:15:44] Sowmya: That definitely was an advantage for me, um, Toni, uh, I wouldn't lie. So because I was an account manager, I was also an escalation manager and I, I really had customers screaming at me wanting a better experience or not having the right experience that they thought they deserved. So definitely I feel like I had an advantage there, but it doesn't mean that unless you have the customer background or the Support background.
[00:16:09] You cannot identify an opportunity. I feel like it is all about, uh, looking at the current status and not getting stuck on status quo. you could keep on adding, but at some point you are making your footprint so complex, uh, that, um, the incremental benefits that you think you're generating are actually not really yielding, uh, what it is.
[00:16:34] Like as part of this project, one another thing that I did not really talk about was. The simplified go to market offering made it easier for our sales organization to attach more services because all they had to talk about was one offer. It is really as simple as that. So that made our service subscription, it was still subscription because it was recurring, attached so high that, you know, year one, you are investing in the customer.
[00:17:03] And year two onwards, it goes to your bottom line. So there was also this incremental recurring revenue benefit that we yielded. So all that, I would say, is your knowledge about the revenue side of the things. But to your question, having that customer background was definitely an advantage for me because I knew and I had heard firsthand, you know, what customers wanted.
[00:17:28] But as part of this program, we did go on a customer interview as well.
[00:17:32] Toni: I think, and this is my last question before I'm going to hand it over to Mikkel again. So when, when I talk to RevOps folks or RevOps leaders, there really is this, uh, it's almost like a 50 50 split. You either come from a, like a consulting or a, uh, like a finance background. And so let's just call it an analytical background and go to revenue operations.
[00:17:51] And then the other side is coming from a commercial background, right? Your SDRs, your AEs, your SDR leaders, your CS leaders. Um, that, that go into this RevOps direction, is there anything, and, you know, this is now maybe more in your capacity as a, as a leader at HubSport, is there, uh, do you have any preferences actually between those two?
[00:18:07] Is it like, Hey, you know, the, the analytical guys, they're sure they're, they're, they're better on, on those numbers things. But really the, the commercial folks, they're kind of really know what this is all about. And they kind of drive more for revenue. Did you pick up on any, you know, I don't want to say you make specific hiring decisions based on this, but you have, have you encountered some, some preferences in yourself with saying like, Hey, I actually really liked this profile more for this role versus the other one.
[00:18:32] Sowmya: Yeah, my team is going to hate me for this answer for sure. Um, I would actually say that having a little bit of the business background has definitely helped. Um, analytics are absolutely important. I think having that quantitative mind, um, uh, is going to be key because, you know, it tells you. Uh, the outcome that you can and the impact that you can have.
[00:19:01] Uh, but I feel you will be more effective if you have that business expertise. and, uh, I really encourage my team, uh, in all of our conversations to, uh, definitely understand the why. You know, um, even if you're not part of the business organization, uh, truly, uh, make sure, like, if someone comes to you with an ask, Ask them why, ask them what, uh, you know, what is the, uh, thinking behind that.
[00:19:30] And then, uh, don't just deliver what, uh, they are asking for. See if there is something bigger that, uh, you know, that you can uncover and what you bring to the table. Basically, I mean, long, uh, you know, to make it simpler, like, always look for opportunities of value creation. So, uh, definitely having a business background is going to, uh, is going to be helpful, but does not mean, uh, that, uh, you know, if you come from an analyst or a consulting background.
[00:19:58] Um, you cannot do, uh, the job effectively. I wouldn't say that, but this one gives you an advantage for sure.
[00:20:07] Mikkel: So we had a guest recently, uh, Chris Walker. Uh, CEO at Refinelabs, and he said, you know, It's really difficult to weigh in on the go to market strategy when you don't have the experience, right? It, it gets, things get a little bit harder. Also, uh, sometimes if, if I'm going to give advice to a marketing person, there's instant credibility versus if I try and provide some best practices to a salesperson, they're going to go like, yeah, go back and pick some colors and fonts.
[00:20:35] Right. So there is also some dynamic there. How do you, how do you work through that with, with, you know, your team? Because it's not always going to be the case that. You, you have a hire that's actually comes with that background and experience.
[00:20:47] Sowmya: I mean, I think that's, that is something that you need to work through. Again, like I would say I earned my credibility within the organization because I had played that role before and I understood the puts and takes. Um, and hence, the recommendations that I made, uh, came from, um, yes, she has done this, she understands, uh, she was part of this organization, um, uh, you know, uh, advantage, but, uh, again, like, I feel like at the end of the day, your stakeholders, the um, want you to solve the problem, deliver the outcome that they are asking, and if you are able to go above and beyond and deliver something that they did not ask, I feel like credibility and trust can be earned.
[00:21:35] Maybe it is not as easily earned. As you know, uh, if you come from that background, but I mean, I feel like if you have the right aptitude and the attitude, I feel like you can pick up the skills. I don't think it should be hard, but you have to be intentional about it.
[00:21:52] Toni: And, you know, maybe this is the same, question just asked from a different angle, but if, if someone on your team would come to you and be like, Hey, someone, how can I. I want to be more strategic. You know, if someone, if someone asks you this question, um, and it might not be from UT, maybe it's from, you know, somewhere else in, in, in HubSpot, how do you, how do you answer this?
[00:22:14] How do you help them and be like, well, you know, those, the, the three things you need to think about, or those, the five things you need to do, you know, what's the, what's the perfect, you know, blog post or LinkedIn, LinkedIn post to answer that question? I mean, how would you, and how do you approach this conversation and what advice would you give?
[00:22:30] Sowmya: Yeah, I don't think everyone needs to be strategic. I would probably, you know, you don't need everyone in the team driving strategy. Uh, there has to be one or two. You will have a real problem if everyone wants to do strategy. I don't think you can teach strategy. I feel like, uh, that's a skill, uh, that you develop, uh, based on expertise and experience.
[00:22:58] what I would tell my team for those who do not want to be just ops partners, who really want to have a bigger impact is, again, like I would say, Understand what is needed, understand the context and the big picture behind the ask because, uh, an example that I would say is a stakeholder might come and say, um, I want to revamp all of the cancellation reasons because I am not able to understand, uh, like the churn analysis uh, I want to be able to better actions on the churn metric.
[00:23:34] You could go about this exercise as like, you know, taking stock of all of the cancellation reasons that you have, and then, uh, trying to probably create groups, make some picklist changes, or you could actually, this could become a strategic project where you say, okay, I want to understand, is it a customer behavior related churn, or is it, uh, Product experience related churn.
[00:24:01] And so if you think about it that way, then it becomes a much bigger project than a tactical ask of, of revamp cancellation reasons. So I would tell my team again, like, you know, understand the ask, understand the why behind the ask, and always look to add something more, uh, to the ask. Bring your perspective.
[00:24:22] It could be right or wrong, but do not hold back. Um, you know, your, uh, inputs and your point of view. Uh, I feel like that is something that first it could be, you could feel like maybe I don't have enough experience, maybe what will they think of me, so remove all those thoughts, be very intentional, ask all the questions, the only stupid one is the one that you did not ask.
[00:24:47] So, uh, again, like, you know, uh, that is what I would tell my team. And I, again, I will also say, I don't want everybody in my team doing strategy. Uh, I, uh, uh, but I, I think that they should all understand, like, the why behind anything that they work on. Uh
[00:25:03] Mikkel: It's like building a five person team with five scrum masters. They're all scrum masters. It's like nothing actually gets done.
[00:25:09] Toni: No, of course. I think the, I think the reason why we're kind of, you know, you know, touching on this question so, so much and so often is, I think the, I think the reverse is very, very often though the case, right?
[00:25:21] You RevOps folks super focused on their systems, you know, Is it Salesforce, is it HubSpot? Is it, you know, less so Siebel? Uh, you know, those, those kinds of questions come up and then, you know, how should we implement this and what should we do next? And it's usually focused on these what, um, things and not only to your question, the why, right?
[00:25:42] Because the reason why someone wants to revamp the cancellation. Uh, reasons is you want to make it actionable. You want to figure out what to fix. You want to improve it. You want to, you know, push up this GRR number. You want to get some real revenue out of this thing. That's the, that's the reason behind it.
[00:25:57] Not an academic, you know, what is the best way to do it? And then change the pick list a little bit. Right. And, um, and I think this is, uh, you know, for, for people listening. They, this is the, this is the click that we want them, that we want them to experience. Right. So, but you're totally right on a, on a team of five or 10 or 20 or 30.
[00:26:15] I'm not sure how big your team is. You don't want everyone to be a, a strategic kind of person. You need, you need a lot of people that do stuff also. Right. And by the way, this is the other funny thing. I think a lot of times. Uh, when someone is labeled strategic, it either is a leader or it's like a, you know, what, what are you actually doing here?
[00:26:32] Right. There's sometimes this balance about this.
[00:26:36] Sowmya: yeah. No, I, I mean, I fully agree. so the way in which the teams are organized, also there's an R& R. That is in place. So again, like, I think it comes a little bit down, I mean, a little, a little bit to org structure, um, and, uh, the structure in which you operate and the roles and responsibilities that you have established, uh, within the team, uh, and again, I think everyone should have a little bit of strategy.
[00:27:01] You should, uh, do it. It does not mean that, like, you know, don't think, just do,
[00:27:04] Mikkel: so, um, I mean, one, one reflection I had is let's, let's say you're. Meeting up with someone in your network, uh, at a, for a coffee, right? And they're, they're in a position where they are this kind of order taker and they're doing a great job at just delivering the tasks and also trying to deliver the, you know, understanding the why behind it and deliver that.
[00:27:26] But it's kind of a vicious, vicious cycles quite frequently when you do tools, you need to go out and procure it, then implement it, train people, process, uh, data. And then once you're done, six, 12 months later, there's a new tool. Right. So if someone is stuck in kind of that pattern and they know they can go and make a bigger impact, what, what would actually be your advice for some simple steps they could take to start transitioning and actually having, you know, an impact beyond just tools?
[00:27:55] Sowmya: so for, so I do have a systems and automation team that is part of my organization. Um, similarly the sales, the sales operations organization also has a systems and automation team and so on. But there is also the centralized, uh, you know, um, RevOps systems and data organization who actually are responsible for the stack, uh, the integrations and the intent behind any tool that you would procure.
[00:28:26] So in my team, again, like we have the autonomy and we are empowered to look at the CS tech stack. Uh, we are empowered to make decisions on any new tools that we want to bring to the table because in fact like my call before this was talking about a solution where they were Uh, they had a solution for an upsell and cross sell initiative.
[00:28:50] So my push to them was, I mean, again, it definitely solves the problem that I have and the mandate that I have been given for next year going into 2024. Grow IB. But I feel like growing IB is CS and sales together. So my, uh, you know, recommendation to the person that I spoke to was also take the feedback from the sales ops.
[00:29:10] Uh, leader, and also, uh, you know, talk to the go to market data leader because I feel like all of this would come together. So for my team, who are responsible for the tools and the implementations and the asks, it really depends on what they ask us. If it is, hey, so we use Workado for, uh, you know, alerts and, uh, uh, insights delivery to the reps.
[00:29:35] One of the things could be, one of the things that we constantly hear is I'm being bombarded by so many alerts, like what do I prioritize? What should I be looking at? Um, so the solution for that is something that lives within the CS purview and my team can go at it and solve it on their own. The other issue that we hear is forecasting is not optimal, we need a better forecasting solution.
[00:30:04] Now if this is a problem that my team is being asked to work on, I would actually say let's look at the forecasting solution that we have at HubSpot and have a holistic point of view because you want An entire view of the business, not just CS or renewal forecasting, um, to be solved. So I think it really depends on the ask.
[00:30:28] Um, and I would definitely, uh, push my team to truly see, is it impacting just this organization? If so, go and make it better. Because at the end of the day, we exist to make it better for the business. But, uh, if we think this is part of a bigger picture, uh, then go to the centralized team and think of a solution, um, for the organization, um, uh, you know, with your point of view on here is why this doesn't work for CS and here is why this solution is a bigger and a better solution for HubSpot.
[00:31:02] So, that would be my guidance to the team.
[00:31:05] Toni: Let's, um, maybe switch gears just a little bit. Um, so if you could go back in time, I feel it's a typical podcast question, you know,
[00:31:14] Sowmya: Ha, ha, ha. This is like an interview,
[00:31:15] Toni: what stocks would you buy? Yeah. If, if you could go back in time and talk to your younger self, what advice would you give yourself? Uh, and yeah, obviously, you know, connection to revenue operations in this case.
[00:31:28] Yeah, that could have been a
[00:31:29] Mikkel: lot
[00:31:29] Toni: of, yeah.
[00:31:30] Sowmya: Yeah. I would say be curious.
[00:31:34] so definitely I feel like you have to have a curious and an inquisitive mind, uh, for you to be able to put on the learning hat and look at the opportunities for learning. I would also probably, now that I'm here, and I know what I did not do, uh, I would actually, uh, say that, uh, try, try things.
[00:31:57] Like, don't be stuck. Sometimes we do not ask for what we want. Maybe I have been put in a part of an organization. Yes, I'm doing a stellar job. Uh, but does not mean, uh, you know, I cannot do another job. I feel like early part of my career. I probably didn't experiment enough, uh, so I would tell my anger self to probably, uh, be open and, uh, be willing and be courageous to take some chances.
[00:32:26] Um, so, I mean, I am here. I'm very fine where I am, but maybe I could have gotten here much faster, uh, if I had done a little bit of tweaks in the early part of my career. So those are the two things that I would tell my younger self and any aspiring, uh, you know, revenue operations folks. Definitely experiment, like, you know, don't CS.
[00:32:47] Go, I mean, if you feel like you have learned enough CS. Go and learn sales, like go and learn marketing ops. Today, my expertise is CS, but even now I crave for, uh, you know, being part of a sales operations and really mobilizing net new growth for the company. Like again, I have an opportunity here to influence it, but I would have liked to be an expert, very similar to how I'm an expert today at customer success.
[00:33:15] So that would be my, uh, advice to, uh,
[00:33:19] Toni: So this is a funny question. So you've been working on the CS side. do you, would you have liked to also be a full on salesperson? I think you mentioned you've been doing account management with sometimes this kind of a similar bucket, right? But, uh, would you have liked to be a full on salesperson once?
[00:33:35] Sowmya: I think so. You know, um, I would also say that, uh, in my role at Informatica, I did, I did try a few things once I established myself. I did have a quota carrying role. Uh, we had a small win back team, um, that I managed, uh, who are responsible for going and talking to a customer who churned, um, you know, 90 days.
[00:33:57] After the churn to really understand because many a times like every vendor is going to promise you something and you churn in promise of something better. But maybe your experience didn't really pan out. Maybe you ran into a bunch of integration issues. Who knows, right? So this team was definitely responsible for win back.
[00:34:14] I did have a quota carrying role. Um, uh, the main reason why I love recurring revenue is like I love quarter end adrenaline rush. You're going to meet your number. Are you going to exceed your number? The marketplace is very different right now. It's all about meeting number right now. But, uh, uh, you know, definitely, I don't know.
[00:34:32] I think I would have liked it. And, uh, I might also be a little bit, uh, um, don't mean to sound bragging. I think I would have been good at it if I had worked. If I had worked at it.
[00:34:45] Toni: I think you would have been fantastic at this as well. I mean, it's, I think this is actually kind of, and maybe this was, you know, my, my, my last kind of go around is I think so many Revops folks are so afraid of actually talking to the customer, especially in a sales role. So maybe sure renewal, but win back?
[00:35:03] No, no, no. Um, and I think it's, um, it's so valuable. It's so valuable to kind of have that reality check and, you know, chat with those people and, um, you know, once in a while get slapped in the face because that's, that's what's going to definitely happen. And I think that drives so much value, not only for your revenue operations career, uh, but probably in general as well.
[00:35:23] Sowmya: Yeah. I mean, I cannot agree more. You need to have a thick skin and I think in operations you have a thick skin.
[00:35:30] Toni: Yeah,
[00:35:30] Sowmya: So I think, yeah.
[00:35:34] Toni: one other thing, you know, I have a thick skin. We need to kind of, you
[00:35:36] Sowmya: There you go. Yeah.
[00:35:40] Mikkel: So I was hoping maybe we can squeeze in just one more question because I wanted to follow up on this, uh, advice you're going to send back in time to yourself, right? You've also done a couple of things, right? Obviously, to get to the point in time where you are today. I'm just curious, like, what are, what do you see as some of the tenets that brought you here that maybe others can also learn from?
[00:36:01] Sowmya: Yeah, I mean, I, uh, I definitely have, um, I think I would say one of the biggest strengths that I have is I have a, a growth mindset. I, I don't look at failures and it doesn't, um, uh, as, you know, setbacks or roadblocks. I definitely... Look at failures as an opportunity to learn from. It's very hard in the moment when it happens, but, uh, definitely, um, I would say one of my biggest strengths is the ability to reflect back and learn something from the successes and as much, or probably even more, from the failures.
[00:36:38] I think that has served me well, uh, in my career because, um, I made sure I never repeated Uh, that thing again, and where it was a knowledge gap, I made sure that I learned that like it would never be a gap when it comes to executing another big project. So that definitely, um, I would say serves me well.
[00:37:00] Served me well, continues to do so, and um, As much as I feel like I didn't take enough chances, I also took the chances. Like when this particular project that I was telling you about, I didn't, I had never done project management before. I didn't know what a CRM was. All I knew was I wanted something different and I wanted to, uh, you know, really understand, um, The company's objectives and what it really meant to me as a support engineer, because at some point of time I felt like, why am I being asked to deliver a 15 minute SLA?
[00:37:35] Like, in the moment it really does not make sense, but when you really understand, like, customers on cloud, it is a 24 by 7 operation, then it all comes together. So, I feel like, you know, um, being willing, I mean, to take chances and, um, Even if you knew or didn't know what you were getting into, it served me well as well.
[00:37:54] So again, like a little bit of curiosity and learning.
[00:37:59] Toni: I think this is, um, the, the taking chances bit. So I can also, when I look back at, you know, you know, my, my, my career. I think that's, that's certainly, that's certainly a trick to also jump into revenue operations, right? Because there will be this moment in time, you have some role somewhere and for some reason, Uh, either you yourself or someone is approaching you and it's like, Hey, we have this problem over there.
[00:38:24] Do you, do you care to maybe jump on this and fix it? And, and the answer needs to be yes. Yes, I'll do that. Uh, and, and thinking about, Oh, what did I do? That can, that can wait, but can't wait until afterwards. But, you know, taking the opportunity and taking this chance and jumping on. Uh, sometimes also it's, it's those projects that no one else wants, you know, and, and, you know, jumping on those and, and nailing those, obviously.
[00:38:47] I think that that can be a, a fantastic, uh, way to progress in the right direction.
[00:38:52] Sowmya: Cannot agree more. Yeah, we are the fixers and identify what can be fixed.
[00:38:57] Toni: That's right. Somia. So awesome to have you on the, uh, on the show. Thank you so much.
[00:39:02] Sowmya: No, thank you for having me. You made it very easy for me to talk to you both. So thank you.
[00:39:07] Mikkel: That's, that's what we always aim for after,
[00:39:09] Toni: after the third try. After
[00:39:11] Sowmya: After the third try.
[00:39:14] Mikkel: Sylvia, thanks so much for joining.
[00:39:16] Toni: Have a good one. Bye-Bye.
[00:39:18] Sowmya: thank you.